Leonard Cohen's farewell letter to Marianne

"Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine": those are Leonard Cohen's words in a letter to an old lover who was the inspiration behind two of his most famous songs, 'So Long, Marianne' and 'Bird On A Wire'. Marianne Ihlen died in Norway at the end of last month at the age of 81. Just before she died, a good friend of hers, Jan Christian Mollestad, contacted Cohen to tell him that his muse was dying.

(Photo: Leonard Cohen. Credit: Deigo Tuson / Getty Images)